After a 18-month walk-out, Israel has decided to return to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) in Geneva, as it is scheduled to undergo a quadrennial review of its human rights record by the body on Tuesday.
Israel severed ties with the UNHRC in March 2012 after the international organization said it would probe how Israeli settlements may be infringing on the rights of Palestinians.
Israel has repeatedly contended that the UNHCR constantly shows anti-Israel bias in its focus on the Jewish state’s human rights record.
We will attend” the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva, an Israeli official, said Sunday. ‘’It’ll still be an unfair Council but we’ll do our part.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly only made his decision after lengthy deliberation and on account of European, American and Canadian pressure.
Press reports said that German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle sent a personal letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warning that Israel's failure to attend the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review would cause the country severe diplomatic damage and Israel's allies around the world would be hard-pressed to help it.
‘’Now is the time for the Council to show good faith on its part by heeding the calls of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and his predecessor Kofi Annan, to both remove the selective agenda item on Israel -- the only provision of its kind focusing on a specific country -- and to end the exclusion of Israel from any of the Council's five regional groups. (To take action and urge the EU to support equality for Israel,’’ said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, which monitors the UN by the yardstick of its charter.
‘’The Human Rights Council’s permanent investigator on Israeli violations is mandated by the Council to examine only Israel and not Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, or any other Arab state or group,’’ he stressed.